All The Knives I Have Made

KnottyEagle said:
Nope, 13 is the cut-off age. I'm 15.
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We are talking years...not beers! ;-)

OP, looks like you have a long way to go, but stick with it and work hard to develop good shop habits.
Don't forget about the main grind.
 
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My question to the OP would be- Did you make those knives to be used as knives, as in, to perform cutting chores? Or were you just making things that look like knives? The first would be a real knife, a cutting tool. The second would just be a toy.

Of course, at your age, even if you are just making "toys", that could lead to greater interest in making the real thing and more serious work.

So, are you truly interested in making REAL knives? Or were you just fooling around and those are what you came up with and you really have no interest in knifemaking beyond that?

If you are truly interested in making REAL knives you came to the right forum (there's a knifemaking sub-forum here). And if that's the case I wish you all the best.
 
jimh0220 said:
If you know THEY'RE (not THERE) bad, (that last one is a comma. Learn to use it), why are you asking for input? If you can make knives, great. Keep working at it and maybe your work will improve. But they look like poorly made prison shivs, especially with the fake blood. You may only be 13, but you've posted over 200 times, so your break in period is over. I'm just being honest.

BTW, tell the kid the truth. If he was 25, you all would goof on him. Honest criticism is ok. He knows the site well enough to understand the way things are here. We are straight with others, so give the kid credit enough to be straight.
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Give the guy a break, he's thirteen, fer f***s sake. He will become better with time, if he really is interested. No need to be rude about it.
Constructive criticism is one thing, bashing the guy is another. Maybe he doesn't even have decent tools and just made those with what he had ?


OP: The wood handled clip-point (third one) one looks kinda decent, try to improve on that.
 
NeverMore1701 said:
I made a few knives as a teen. I'd advise you to spend more time on one or two knives instead of making lots of them without much attention to detail.
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Well put. The last couple resemble decent knives. More time spent on those would mkae a huge difference.

Understand, btw, I would never squash a kid's (no offense with the term Kid... I'm and old guy in his forties, so kid is a compliment) urge to create. I was shooting photos at 13 with a Kodak 110 camera. My work sucked. Honest opinions and critiques helped me improve to the point that I now make money with the work I shoot. That's how we learn.

OP, you would learn faster by finding a local knifemaker and offer to be an apprentice. That means doing the dirty work, but you will gleen info from the person you work for (for free of course), and might get access to some metal and tools to use to practice. Alot of guys love to teach a kid their craft.
 
Constructive criticism is never a bad thing. I search for it in my writing. I always have, and because of that I became a better writer and things flowed better, my writing became something of a work of art and I always try to improve.
I started writing when I was around 7.
I hope to write a book or at least become published.

I think what you have is a start. Like a word or sentence at a beginning of a book, it's a start, but there's much more to read, write, learn, and continue on with. I think with practice, study, better tools(be they actual tools or mental tools you use in the process), and time you'll make some good knives.

I don't think what you have is bad. There are people who could do much worse and they probably have more tools than you. Both actual tools and mental tools.

I think you have a good start, especially at 13, but you have a long way to go until the end.

Keep it up!
 
killgar said:
My question to the OP would be- Did you make those knives to be used as knives, as in, to perform cutting chores? Or were you just making things that look like knives? The first would be a real knife, a cutting tool. The second would just be a toy.

Of course, at your age, even if you are just making "toys", that could lead to greater interest in making the real thing and more serious work.

So, are you truly interested in making REAL knives? Or were you just fooling around and those are what you came up with and you really have no interest in knifemaking beyond that?

If you are truly interested in making REAL knives you came to the right forum (there's a knifemaking sub-forum here). And if that's the case I wish you all the best.
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Im really interested in making more knives to use. i make them to use not just for show. suprisinly enough I use almost all of these knives alot for my cutting chores
 
my god. those. are. hideous.

But, then again, I've never made a knife in my life. And I probably wouldn't do much better. I get that you're 13. Keep at it. I'm sure given some experience and proper tools you might actually make something that resembles a knife one day.
 
Get a dremel! Smooth everything out. And hand finish or rub with different grits. Maybe even a cheap belt sander as well.
 
once again guys I made these knives awhile ago like a year and a half ago so im much better now and have better equipment to make them.. mirror polished a custom ive been working on for awhile now. i have also studied and experimented with grinding the blade certain types and the swedges on the top of the blade...
 
9 - Thanks.
Issac, I wasn't saying you've made bad knives and that you don't do better I bet you've progressed well in that year. I was just saying, don't give it up, take advice and criticism and stride on.
You'll get much better and learn so much along the way, even from the most simple of comments or opinions.
Hope to see some current work some time.

Can't wait to see you progress even more and start selling your own knives. =]
 
First off, I'm not going to crap on your work like some people feel the need to do. I think it's great a kid your age even wants to do it and is putting some effort into it.

I worked with a blacksmith/knife maker for about 3 months to learn some basic skills and the first knife I made at about 23 didn't look significantly different from the second picture you posted. Making knives is very difficult, making a quality well finished knife is incredibly difficult.

What methods are you using to make your knives? Are you using a forge and pounding out a rough blade then finishing it or are you just taking a chunk of steel and grinding it?

I can see some promise in the one with the brown wood handle and the divot out of the top of the blade. Of your knives that one looks the most knife like. Just looking at the knives you posted here I get the impression you are grinding knives, not forging. I'm guessing that because of the thickness of the blades. However, if you are not using a forge I don't suggest trying to rig your own and try to learn on your own. Forges can be very dangerous.

Either way, good work.
 
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